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The Jewish Strong Man: Daniel Mendoza and the Assault On The Jewish Strong Man: Daniel Mendoza and the Assault on Stereotype in Late Georgian England Daniel Brodie Department of Jewish Studies, McGill University, Montreal July 2011 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. © Daniel Brodie, 2011 Daniel Brodie 2 Contents Abstract 3 Résumé 4 Acknowledgments 5 Introduction 6 - Mendoza and Stereotypes 8 - Mendoza and Cultural Studies 14 - Mendoza and Anglo-Jewish Historiography 17 - Mendoza and Georgian Historiography 27 Mendoza and Theatre 33 Mendoza, Sport, and “Jewishness” 36 Mendoza and his Memoirs 44 Mendoza and Fagin 58 Mendoza and the Stage Jew 67 Mendoza and Richard Humphreys 71 Mendoza and his Decline 85 Conclusion 88 Bibliography 90 The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 3 Abstract The focus of this study is Daniel Mendoza (1764‐1836), an exceptional boxer and a controversial figure of Georgian Anglo‐Jewish society. It will chart his meteoric rise from greengrocer’s apprentice to champion boxer, and his sudden decline. The thesis aims to put Mendoza in his proper historical context, focussing on the dominant issues for the Jewish community at the time. To do this, there will be a review of the major works of Jewish and English history from the period. It also attempts to bring Mendoza, previously overlooked by Anglo‐Jewish historians, to the forefront of any debate about the position of Anglo‐Jewry at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The study will examine, in particular, the effect of Mendoza on the stereotyping of Jews in late eighteenth century England, and how he presents himself, through his writings and manipulation of the press, as the antithesis of the traditional Jewish stereotype. To show this, the thesis draws on many primary sources, predominantly newspapers and boxing reports from England, as well as Mendoza’s own memoirs, and Old Bailey proceedings. The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 4 Résumé Le sujet de cette étude est Daniel Mendoza (1764‐1836), un boxeur exceptionnel et un personnage controversé de la société juive en Angleterre durant les reines des roi George III et IV. Elle documentera son ascension fulgurante d’un épicier apprenti à un boxeur champion, et son déclin soudain. Ce mémoire tente de mettre Mendoza dans son contexte historique approprié, concentrant sur les questions dominantes pour la communauté juive de l’époque. À cette fin, il inclura une revue des œuvres majeures d’histoire juive et anglaise de la période. Il tente aussi d’amener Mendoza, jusqu’ici négligé par les historiens anglo‐juifs, au premier plans de quelconque débat sur la position des juifs anglais au début du XIXe siècle. Cette étude examinera, en particulier, l’effet de Mendoza sur les stéréotypes des juifs en Angleterre à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, et comment il se présente à travers ses écrits et à travers ses manipulations de la presse, comme l’antithèse du stéréotype juif traditionnel. À ces fins, la thèse s’appuiera sur plusieurs sources primaires, principalement des journaux et des rapports de boxe d’Angleterre, ainsi que les mémoires de Mendoza lui‐même et les procédés de l’ «Old Bailey », la cour criminelle de Londres. The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 5 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank the Jewish Studies department at McGill University for their help and encouragement. In particular, I would like to thank Gershon Hundert, Eugene Orenstein and Stefka Iorgova for their support and advice over the past two years. This opportunity would not be possible without the generous support of the Canadian Rhodes Scholars Foundation, to whom I hold an eternal debt. The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 6 Introduction Daniel Mendoza (1764‐1836) was a Jewish pugilist, or boxer, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He was champion of England from 1790 until his defeat by “Gentleman” John Jackson in 1795. He is accredited with developing the science of boxing and revolutionising the sport.1 He stood at only five foot seven inches and weighed barely over one hundred and sixty pounds, yet with the style he developed he was undefeated from 1789 until his loss to Jackson in 1795. He was able to defeat his opponent by moving, defending and counterattacking at the right time. He opened a school for boxing very early in his career and the majority of his income throughout his life came from touring the country and demonstrating the skill that he possessed. Throughout his career and into his retirement, he was a hugely popular figure. Newspapers printed stories about his fights, as well as his personal life. He had a public argument with his former master, Richard Humphreys, in which they both aired their grievances in letters to newspapers. In London at the time, the series of letters between the two, which lasted over a number of years, were published by, and this is just a selection, the Whitehall Evening Post, Public Advertiser, Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, The World, Diary or Woodfall’s Register, The Star, The Times and the London Chronicle. Portraits of Mendoza were advertised in a similar number of newspapers, and were sold in huge numbers. 1 Mendoza wrote an instructional guide entitled The Art of Boxing, which is still seen today as a crucial part of boxing theory. The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 7 Descriptions of Mendoza’s battles were published in American newspapers. He was, for a time, the most popular and famous Jew in England. He interacted with royalty and counted even the Prince of Wales, soon to be George IV, as a patron. Yet scholars of Anglo‐Jewish history, or English history in general, have not studied him in any detail. This should be rectified. The reason for the general lack of attention to Mendoza is complex. Firstly, there has been a lack of writing, and academic intent in general, within the fields of Anglo‐Jewish and English Georgian history. However, there are also great difficulties with Mendoza himself. He was a very complicated character, capable on the one hand of great kindness and intelligence, and on the other sporadic acts of criminality and violence that cannot be ignored. He may have been deported early in his life for robbery. He was also accused of fraud in a highly publicised Old Bailey Trial. He was found guilty of viciously assaulting a woman in 1795 because of her attitude towards his wife. In separate incidents, two of his sons were deported for stabbing two gentlemen who they had just robbed. He was both despised and loved within the Jewish community, as well as the non‐Jewish population. In essence, he was a man whose living was made in beating another to the ground, yet he could write a preface to his memoirs that mentions Henry Fielding and Anacreon. He was a complex man with complex motives. The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 8 The fact remains, however, that he was the most famous Jew at the turn of the nineteenth century, the century that brought the Jewish community in Britain its biggest political and social gains. The documentation available to reconstruct Mendoza’s story is not rich and much of what journalists and writers discuss is found in Mendoza’s Memoirs.2 This is a very difficult text to decipher and should not be taken as fact. This is largely because of the situation that he found himself at the time of its printing in 1816. Not for the first time, his life appeared to be unravelling and he needed the money. He was willing to overplay, and at the same time, underplay various aspects in his life in order to increase revenue. It was also the last attempt by Mendoza to fashion his own image. The way he describes himself as almost the antithesis of the Jewish stereotype, suggests a method to approach him. Within the framework of stereotypes, it is possible to examine his life through an academic lens, while also investigating the reaction to him from the public, his opinion of himself, and a re‐evaluation of his life with special attention to the less palatable aspects of his personality. Mendoza and Stereotypes The use of “Jewish strong man” in the title is chosen purposefully to draw the reader into an acknowledgement of the stereotype of Jews as weak and 2 Daniel Mendoza and Paul Magriel (ed.), The Memoirs of the Life of Daniel Mendoza (London: B. T. Batsford, LTD, 1951) The Jewish Strong Man Daniel Brodie 9 malformed. They were “distinguish’d for Pusillanimity and Cowardice”.3 One of the more offensive descriptions of Jewish cowardice comes from Charles Johnstone’s late eighteenth century novel, The History of John Juniper, where the hero tells the reader to “spit in a Jew’s face, give him a box on the ear…give him but a farthing at the same time…he will pocket the affront and thank you”.4 In particular, they could not be trusted to fight for King and country; Jonas Hanway describes how Jews “are not a warlike people as the Saxons were”.5 Of course, Jews were actually a significant part of the army in the areas that had large Jewish populations. According to Cecil Roth, King George III “was struck by the number of zoophoric names” after reviewing a regiment of soldiers from the East End.6 Perhaps the most amusing example of Jews in the army is an 1803 cartoon showing an Ashkenazi Jew pointing his bayonet towards a French soldier with the Jew saying, in a strong Yiddish accent, “…I’ll let you know Mounsheer, dat I fight for King Sheorge, and de Shynagogue!”7 The stereotype of Jewish cowardice was dominant for most of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.
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